LEMOORE, Calif. – “The Ultimate Fighter 11″ veteran Kyacey Uscola made a promise to the world that he would not stand in front of the dangerous hands of his opponent, Doug Marshall.

For the first 60 seconds of the main-event bout of Thursday’s Tachi Palace Fights 6 event in Lemoore, Calif., Uscola looked ready to rescind on that guarantee.

But when the opening presented itself, Uscola shot in, took the fight to the floor and quickly tranquilized “The Rhino.”

The early exchanges on the feet saw Marshall, the former WEC light heavyweight champion, get the better of the action. Uscola held his own, but Marshall landed a big right uppercut that seemed to catch the attention of “Ice Cold.” Uscola backed away, reset, then shot in and drug Marshall to the floor.

A Cleber Luciano purple belt, Marshall did fine in the early going and looked as if he’d stall the action and earn a stand-up. But Uscola advanced to the back, sunk in his hooks and unleashed of barrage of powerful ground-and-pound punches that actually left Marshall unconscious on the floor.

The knockout win came in Uscola’s (19-16) first official fights since October 2009, and he stormed around the cage after the win while yelling a simple message: “Keep doubting me!” Meanwhile, Marshall (12-4) loses for the first time since dropping to 185 pounds.

Ruiz landed the more powerful shots on the feet, but his jabbing approach never had Serao in any real danger. Meanwhile, Serao threatened with multiple submission attempts on the floor, but Ruiz showed an improved ground game and alertly worked free from each attempt. Unfortunately for the American Kickboxing Academy product, Ruiz was giving rounds away as the fight progressed.

With Serao slowing slightly in the fifth and final round, Ruiz put on a full-court press. Working to top position, Ruiz tried hard to pound away with punches, elbows and hammerfists. Serao did a good job of absorbing any real damage, though the round was clearly Ruiz’s best.

In the end, Serao (17-7) claimed the belt with a wildly scored split decision (48-47, 46-48, 48-46). Ruiz (25-14) fell short of his goal, but he earned the respect of the Tachi Palace Fights crowd by fighting until the final bell.

Hill outworked McCullough in the opening frame with a combination of his reach advantage and a submission attack. But McCullough answered with powerful low kicks that peppered the inside and outside of Hill’s lead leg. With Hill slowed in the final frames, McCullough took control.

The deciding factor was a bit surprising – McCullough’s ground-and-pound assault sealed the result. Hill (4-4) kept a closed guard on his back and did not use his lanky frame to attack with submissions. As such, McCullough (19-6) walked away with a unanimous-decision win.

In other action affecting the promotion’s title picture, WEC and DREAM veteran Micah Miller (15-4) picked up a unanimous decision win over Diego Saraiva (18-10-1) and will now likely challenge Tachi Palace Fights featherweight champion Isaac De Jesus for the belt.

And another “TUF 11″ vet, Joseph Henle (3-0-1), also returned to action for the first time since the conclusion of the Spike TV series by fighting to a draw with NorCal Fighting Alliance product Collin Hart (2-1-1).

Henle looked at his best in the opening round, but Hart battled back strong in the second and third. Only a questionable point deduction issued to Hart by referee Mike Beltran for a single low blow in the second salvaged the draw for “Leonidas.” Nevertheless, both fighters fought well in the 15-minute affair.